When people open their hearts to unselfish, unconditional love, a whole new world of possibilities opens. Rather than spending effort avoiding the selfishness of others, they spend time making sure that the way they choose to serve society is done in the best way possible. When people can trust others to treat each other with love and respect rather than as competitors, then everyone gains.

As heart-centered awareness grows and blooms within society, people's primary focus will shift away from service to self and towards service to others. When it does, the world will transform out of all recognition.

But you don't have to wait for all of society to catch up. In both your personal and professional dealings with people, you have a reputation, and it is fed by word-of-mouth recommendation. Build your reputation as someone who tends to give more than is expected of them, and you will find yourself becoming increasingly popular in both your business and personal lives. People respond to heartfelt action and, as they say, what goes around comes around.

Action and reaction are opposite and equal in all types of thought and action. Your heartfelt action, by automatic reaction, will create a heartfelt reality among you and the people who are attracted to your energy. When you operate mainly out of a heart-centered frequency, you will notice that people are attracted to you in all aspects of your life. Friends, lovers, professional associates; everyone will be attracted to your magnetic personality.

Personal magnetism has been one of the great mysteries of life simply because, in the past, so few people have operated from that heart-centered frequency of awareness on a routine basis. However, it's really no secret. It's just one of those common-sense facts of life.

The secret of personal magnetism is that the more you unconditionally love people, the more they love you.

You don't have to make a big deal out of it. You don't have to stand there like some transmitter beacon, radiating huge amounts of heart energy. Top stage performers do, but you don't. You can be very quiet about it and everyone will be quietly drawn to you. Everyone of a similar nature, that is. Everyone who appreciates kindness and a truly warm, genuine smile.

In other words, you'll attract the very best of friends.

There's nothing more attractive than a warm smile from a person who quietly radiates a sense of unconditional love for themselves and all others.

Not surprisingly, higher states of consciousness carry much more power to change reality than do the lower states of consciousness. The higher you reach, the more effect your consciousness has in resolving problems and creating a better life. Spiritual practices not only lead to expanded states of consciousness, but also to the inner qualities of happiness, peace and joy. Seeking joy from within is an activity which places you in tune with the flow of eternal joy which resides there, waiting for you to contact it, feel it, and express it.

However, in the busy modern world, we really need a practical way to move into spiritual consciousness quickly and effectively. This is achieved by empowering your heart-centered level of consciousness so that you can move quickly through the gateway of the heart and into the realms of spiritual consciousness.

Heart-centered consciousness is typically focused in a chakra, or energy center, approximately four inches (ten centimeters) in front of the breastbone. It is a small, whirling vortex of energy operating at a specific frequency of consciousness. This chakra can be used to sense the heart-centered consciousness of others and it can also be used in transmission mode to send unconditional love to others. When your heart is warmed in the company of a true friend, it is this energy center, and its energetic counterpart just behind the spine, which are involved in the giving and receiving of that warmth between you and your friend.

Universal life energy, or etheric energy, comes from the universe, through the Sun, and fills all of the space around you. On a sunny day, when its presence is especially intense, your eyes can often faintly detect globules of this energy floating in the air as you look up towards the clear sky. Etheric energy is the primary energy of life, while its more familiar offshoot, electricity, is merely a secondary form of energy.

To invoke spiritual consciousness, we can add universal life energy to the heart chakra in order to swiftly activate heart-centered consciousness.

As a primary energy, universal life energy responds immediately to the mental pressure exerted by your will. It can be attracted, conditioned and even transmitted outwards to any desired objective. In order to charge your heart chakra with universal life energy, you visualize it coming into your body on each inbreath.

See it as a white light permeating the space which surrounds you. Then, see this white light enter and fill your lungs as it passes through your nostrils on each inbreath. Draw this life-giving energy into yourself using the power of your will.

Then, on each outbreath, see this concentration of energy as a brilliant white light moving forward into your heart chakra, filling this center of consciousness with intense light and vitality. The reason we see it as a brilliant white light, and not a specific color, is because white light is all-inclusive. It is a combination of all the colors of the spectrum in equal balance.

Do this for at least three inbreaths and outbreaths and your consciousness will shift into a heart-centered focus.

That is step one of the FREEdom technique. Now that your heart chakra is charged with intense energy, you are capable of transmitting that energy to any desired objective. We will be choosing the highest objectives, in terms of frequency of consciousness, as that causes the law of action and reaction to guarantee us the highest degree of spiritual upliftment as a result.​This article was an excerpt from Owen Waters' e-book, "Freedom of the Spirit: Four Powerful Steps to Spiritual Freedom", available now at:http://www.spiritualdynamics.net/ebooks/freedom.htm

Your inner being - your soul or higher self - is not something that you have. It is what you are.​Your complete consciousness is your inner being. All of the so-called parts of your mind - the conscious, the subconscious and the superconscious parts - are all facets of your one, complete consciousness, your inner being.

Your conscious mind is the result of your inner being focusing attention upon the outer world through your physical brain and senses. When, instead, you turn your attention from the outer world towards the inner world, you access the resources of your inner being.

Your inner being possesses all of the wisdom, understanding and strength that you will ever need. It is your ultimate, personal resource. Your inner being is also your link with the universe and with the consciousness behind all life, Infinite Being.

If you think of yourself as living your life like a performer on stage, then your inner being is like the backstage technician who makes sure that your performance has all the support that it needs to make everything happen on cue.

The amount of knowledge and wisdom available within you is unlimited. In order to access it, you only have to make an intention to go within and find it.

Your subconscious mind runs all of your biological systems without conscious effort on your part. In fact, if you think about it, the subconscious mind of an ant knows more about biochemistry than today's leading scientists.

Your inner being knows even more; in fact, everything about anything you want to know anything about. The trick is to ask the question and then silence your conscious mind enough to hear the answer.

When you become consciously aware of the true nature of your inner being and its resources of wisdom, understanding and strength, you begin to dissolve many of the former limitations to your growth.

The key to expressing your human potential is to know that all potential lies within you and you only have to open an external channel in order to begin to allow that unlimited potential to flow out into the world.​The power is within. To become empowered, you don't have to become something new. You only have to realize that you already have that power within, then allow that infinite inner potential to flow into your life.

The concept of God as a Father-Mother principle, not just a Father God, is hardly new. For example, the Christian Science movement, founded in 1879, is one which holds the Father-Mother God principle as central to its teachings.

They regard the masculine qualities of God, such as strength, constancy and protection to be related to the Father aspect of God, while the feminine qualities, such as gentleness, compassion and nurturing to be related to the Mother aspect of God. They do not see God as two ‘people’ – a male entity and a female entity – but rather as an integrated, all-pervasive presence possessing both aspects of consciousness in equal balance.

If we look at the nature of the original consciousness which is behind all things, we can better understand the concept of an integrated Father-Mother God. God is not a person. God is an everywhere-present, all-knowing intelligence which created and maintains the universe. Behind even this creative presence, is the ultimate, original, unchanging state of consciousness, that of Infinite Being.

Infinite Being is a state of perfect beingness which contains all potential. As such, it fundamentally does not “do,” it just is. It is perfection, and therefore unchanging. However, at some point, Infinite Being decided to ‘become,’ rather than just ‘be.’ It decided to manifest its potential, and then to act out every part of that potential.

Once Infinite Being had made the decision to create the universe, it achieved the Creation through its only available tool – that of consciousness. Infinite Being divided its consciousness into two complementary aspects. In one direction, it focused intent. In another direction, it focused feeling. Then, it applied motion so that the two facets of itself – intent and feeling – could interact with each other as intertwined waves of consciousness in motion. In this way, Infinite Being extended itself from just being, into a state of action and creation.

The dividing of the ‘waters’ of original consciousness into two, complementary aspects created the aspect of intent and the aspect of feeling. These two principles of consciousness interact together in perfect, equal balance. Were they not perfectly balanced, the universe would cease to exist!

People traditionally find comfort in thinking of God as a parent-like presence. The two aspects of consciousness are not, literally, terms relating to gender. However, you could choose to think of the intent aspect as the Creator part and the one which seems more father-like. You could also choose to think of the feeling aspect as the Preserver of all of creation and as the one which seems more mother-like. However, these are just images to help us identify, from a human perspective, with the vastness of the consciousness of God.

God maintains the universe through a perfect balance of the complementary aspects of its consciousness. In the light of this, if people choose to think of God in parental terms, then the word God today has to mean ‘Father-Mother God’ and not just ‘God the Father.’ Remember that without God the Father’s other half, the universe would cease to exist!

Today, the concept of Father-Mother God has become a very timely one. As we progress through The Shift to heart-centered consciousness, the concept of patriarchy is steadily fading away into history. Father God, as a male persona, is part of the Old Reality thinking. The expanded concept of Father-Mother God is inbuilt into the new awareness.

We are entering a New Reality where all people are honored equally, regardless of race, creed, color, personal preferences and, especially, gender. Heart-centered consciousness means unconditional love and acceptance of all people in their infinite diversity. We exist on this earth as the eyes and ears of Infinite Being as it seeks to experience itself through the variety of every possible viewpoint. Such diversity is integral to our purpose in existence.

Your purpose in life includes the development of your own potential so that you can become the most unique ‘you’ possible. Today’s emerging heart-centered consciousness means that people will support, rather than compete against, the efforts of other people.

As New Reality consciousness expands, human potential will flower in creative ways never before imagined possible. You can think of God as a balance of Father-Mother God consciousness or simply go beyond that to think of Infinite Being as the ultimate state of unchanging perfection. Either way, remember that the conscious awareness of the presence of God is a mere thought away.​It is your concept of the God presence within which will feed the flame of your creativity and help bring your unique potential into full and joyful manifestation.

Within us lies a Universal Yearning for Unity consciousness, a yearning to return to that from which we came. This all-pervasive yearning for unity constantly calls us towards our spiritual home. As a sentient being in a world of separate beings, your primary mission has always been to find your way back to your spiritual source, to that original state of consciousness where All is One.

Despite the distractions of physical life, despite its noise and clatter, you have a silent, inner drive which keeps your soul wanting to evolve back towards its original source. Deep within, you have a yearning to be reconnected with the unity from which you once came. This Universal Yearning for Unity, the UYU ("you-you"), leads us ever onwards, towards our eventual, spiritual homecoming and into complete unity.

The Universal Yearning for Unity is a silent, yet ever-present call towards our spiritual home. As we master the experiences of third-density living and move on to higher density layers, we become more expanded in our awareness and more aware of the enormous scale of Creation.

When you allow your awareness to expand further and further, you can take an imaginary voyage to the All That Is, to your original spiritual home.

The planet on which we stand is enormous compared to the size of a human being. Imagine yourself viewing the Earth from a distance. Imagine the silence and peace that permeates your very soul as you look upon the Mother Earth, who has provided all of us with this wonderful home in space.

Then, in your mind's eye, see the Sun. Imagine this brilliant orb and feel its life-giving energy while your mind adjusts to the fact that the Sun is over a million times bigger than the Earth.

Now, expand your viewpoint far enough to see and appreciate your entire solar system. Next, you realize that there are many more suns in our galaxy. In our Milky Way galaxy, there are 200 billion other suns. Expand your viewpoint even more as you imagine yourself seeing an entire galaxy, slowly rotating like a giant disk in the great peace and quietness of space.

Then, you realize that there are many more galaxies in existence. There are well over 100 billion other galaxies in this universe. Now, expand your viewpoint to include the entire universe, filled with billions of galaxies. You realize that, as big as the universe is, in order for God to be everywhere, God has to be even bigger still.

All of this, this All Things, is contained within the consciousness of Infinite Being. Beyond the limits of the universe, beyond the envelope of space, lies only that which created it. The universe is contained within the creative awareness and loving energy of Infinite Being.

As you feel Infinite Being holding the universe within manifestation, and preserving all of life within its infinite aura of profound love, you sense what your ultimate potential really is. You sense that all of the universe will one day come back to embrace this, its original spiritual home. This all-knowing, all-feeling, all-present spirit, which is behind all of life as we know it.

Now, as your attention returns to your own space on Planet Earth, you remember that feeling, that sense of wonder, of wisdom, and that awareness of ultimate potential.

And, as you think of your own life, you now understand what it means to be connected to that ultimate inner reality, as...​Infinite Being, infinite potential.

In recent decades, the consciousness of humankind has progressed rapidly. Indeed, today, we are in the throes of the greatest transformation in the history of humankind, a shift to a New Reality of heart-centered consciousness. We stand at the gateway of an unprecedented turning point in human consciousness, a social and spiritual transformation called The Shift.

One of the hallmarks of the New Reality is that people are becoming spiritually self-empowered. In the Old Reality, it was necessary for people to follow a rule book of moral behavior in order to stay upon a path which avoided temptation and its undesirable side-effects.

With New Reality consciousness, order comes to society automatically because people are heart-centered. They simply don't engage in actions that would be harmful to themselves or others because they unconditionally love all people, and would therefore do no harm to anyone. New Reality consciousness is one of responsible freedom. With it, people are self-empowered and fully consider the effects of all of their actions from a place within their hearts.

Heart-centered consciousness develops the flow of unconditional love. Once this flow is started, nothing in physical reality can affect it in a negative way. It is not altered or rationed by likes and dislikes, nor by emotions of any kind. It is something that just is, regardless of the circumstances. It is an expression of the love of God, which exists in every part of the universe and flows through each one of us, if we but allow it.

Unconditional love is something that readily flows through your heart when you reach upwards above regular, day-to-day consciousness, open your heart and just allow the flow to come through. Unconditional love is, by its very nature, allowing, accepting and supporting. As a state of allowance, it is not something that you have to try to do; it just flows when you allow it to enter your heart. It will raise your consciousness above the cares of daily reality and open up an expanded vista of awareness.

Each time you allow unconditional love to flow, you upgrade the entire human experience, taking humanity yet one more step into the unfolding New Reality.

Infinite Being is The One and The All. We are aspects of the One, aspects of Infinite Being, each of us experiencing life from our own unique perspective. This concept leads to the idea that you are one small part of an infinitely large variety of life. However, when you go within and contact the deeper levels of consciousness, you begin to sense that that concept is actually one of the illusions of life as we know it.​Infinite Being is The One and The All. We can see the infinite variety of The All in the external world but, at the deepest level of consciousness, each individual part of The All is The One.

At the deepest level, you are not a part of The One. Within the One, there are no parts. There is no separation. Within the One, you are The One. You are Infinite Being.

If this were not so, then at that deepest level of awareness, there would be both The One and you. That would make two, and that is not what is there at that deepest level of consciousness. Only The One exists in that ultimate state. Therefore you are The One, as, indeed, is everyone else.

Infinite Being is The One and The All.

We are Infinite Being.

So, The Great Paradox of Infinite Being is this: While you appear to be one of infinite parts of The All, at the deepest level of awareness you are not a separate part. You are, instead, simply The One.

The reason for the paradox is that we live in an existence which creates the illusion of separation. Deep down, we're all the same One but, for the sake of being able to experience all the drama and excitement that life in this world has to offer, the appearance of separation into the All was created.

This was done so that Infinite Being can observe itself from an infinite variety of viewpoints. That includes your unique viewpoint, my unique viewpoint, and everyone else's unique viewpoints.

In the Middle Ages, most people worked the land. They were peasants who rarely ventured far away from their place of birth, so their concept of the world was quite small. Likewise, their concept of God the Creator was small in scale. To them, God was an all-powerful, wise, elderly, human-like figure who lived somewhere above them and would, one day, judge them in person.

People, at the time, didn't realize the massive size of the planet upon which they stood. To them, most of their universe could be seen from the top of the nearest hill. Today, with cosmology and the Hubble telescope to help us, our view of the size of the universe has been stretched farther and farther.

What we have learned, since the Middle Ages, includes these realizations:

The Earth is not the center of the universe. Apparently, when this was discovered, it came as quite a shock.

The Earth is round. This was excellent news at the time: No more worrying that you might take to sea and sail off the edge of the world.

The Earth travels around the Sun. This means that, while modern-day life on Earth may seem to be expensive at times, it does come with the added bonus, once a year, of a free trip around the Sun.

The Sun is over a million times bigger than the Earth.

There are 200 billion other suns in our own galaxy.

There are well over 100 billion galaxies in the universe.

As big as the universe is, in order for God to be everywhere, God has to be bigger still.

​When you view God as Infinite Being, the All That Is, or the Absolute, you have a sense of scale that still encompasses all of Creation, no matter how far the universe stretches. The infinity of Infinite Being encompasses all of space. The 'Being' part of Infinite Being created all of space within its consciousness.In fact, in a universe full of infinite possibilities, how do we know that this isn't just one of many universes?

The possibility that there may be infinite universes in all of Creation boggles the mind further still. If there are infinite universes, then ours is just one small one compared to the extend of Infinite Being, the Creator of all that exists.

The question is, where does the individual fit into this enormous scale of Creation?

As individuals, we each appear as a manifested part of Creation's infinite array of possibilities. However, that's just the external appearance.

The deeper into consciousness you travel, the more you become aware that the All is One. That the infinite possibilities are all expressions of the One. Beneath all expression is just the One, and the One is Infinite Being.

In the 'All is One' ultimate reality, you are not just a part of Infinite Being, you are a viewpoint of the One. Nothing can be truly separate from the One. It can only be another facet or viewpoint of the One.That means that you are the One. You are Infinite Being.

Now, it may not be appropriate, in this external world of separate people, to announce, "I, personally, am Infinite Being." But, as you travel within, to that sacred space of your inner being, the truth dawns. You do realize that, deep down, that is what you are. You are Infinite Being, and so is everyone else, at the level of their deepest spiritual essence.

Because people are an expression of Infinite Being, the potential within each and every one of us is infinite.There are no limits to what you will become in your journey back to your original spiritual home. And, there need be no limits in the life that you are now leading.

Society will benefit enormously when such realizations become commonplace. Today, however, the chances are that, throughout all of your life, you have been pressured to be modest... mundane, even. Society has been terrified of the idea that a person might think themselves important. "Don't even think about rising above your station," they cry.

Admittedly, inflated egos can be a tiresome bore, but it really is time to question any social conditioning which places limits upon human potential. A society that encourages all of its members to develop their full potential would be more supportive, creative and productive. Everyone would benefit.

The sooner more people think in terms of unlimited human potential, the sooner they will saturate the global mind atmosphere of the planet with that New Reality idea.

Just keep thinking of yourself this way:"Infinite Being, infinite potential."www.SpiritualDynamics.net

In "The Book of Secrets," Deepak Chopra updates the Vedic spiritual paths in a way which aligns these paths with the modern Western lifestyle.

According to the Vedic tradition, each person can choose from four paths to obtain unity consciousness. The word 'yoga' is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning "union with God." The four paths, or yogas, seek unity through thinking, feeling, acting and being. They are traditionally called:​

Raja Yoga - being: The path to unity through meditation and renunciation.

​People may pursue one or more paths at once. In fact, Raja Yoga, which literally means "The King of the Yogas," embraces aspects of all the other three paths. It achieves this by the fact that meditation transcends and includes the end result of what the other paths - thinking, feeling, and acting - are trying to reach, which is the essence of being.

You could say that meditation is a short-cut to spiritual union, or unity consciousness. Instead of working through actions, thoughts and feelings, you go right to the end result and become enlightened by inner awareness, by inner beingness.

The Four Paths to Spiritual Unity:

1. Thinking.

The path of knowledge begins with concentration upon a subject or an object. When long, focused attention is given to a subject or object, intuitive information begins to enter into your awareness. While intuition is your link to inner guidance, it can also provide knowledge directly from a physical object via the subtle senses. For example, if you saw a piece of previously-owned jewelry for sale, you could pick it up and feel it in your hands through your physical sense of touch. At the same time, with a little focus and some quiet time, your subtle sense of touch could enable the transfer of the object's memory into your awareness. Intuition is the gateway to inner connection and the wisdom that it brings. By following the thread of knowledge, through intuition and then deeper into your inner connection, you experience glimpses of the unity consciousness within.

2. Feeling.

The path of feeling is traditionally thought of as one of devotion to God. Deepak Chopra defines it more lucidly as love in its various expressions - the love of self and family evolving into the unconditional love of humanity. Then, in its highest expression, the yearning heart finds fulfilment when the individual reaches for unity with God, with the heart of Creation.

3. Acting.

The path of acting is traditionally one of monastic service. Again, Deepak Chopra updates this definition with a practical, modern interpretation. Right action, he says, is action guided by a force beyond the ego. Personal attachment to your own actions gives way to non-attachment through performing God's actions, or inwardly, spiritually-inspired actions. This eventually leads to fulfilment, he points out, when your surrender is so complete that God runs everything you do.

The path of acting can be recognized in today's popular idea of following your inner joy, i.e. your inner, spiritually-inspired path of action. Your 'dharma' brings your destiny. Dharma is your inner path based upon your inner nature, your pattern of existence over many incarnations. If, deep down, you are an artist, a musician, a poet or a scientist, then that is probably your dharma, your inner pathway to spiritual consciousness - the one that you explore in every incarnation when the opportunity arises. It is vital to know your personal destiny, your personal path. Meditation will reveal it, and keep filling in the details, as you follow your unique personal path back to spiritual unity.

4. Being.

The path of being, Deepak Chopra says, is a cultivation of self beyond ego. A growing awareness of the "I Am" presence within, your pure and simple inner sense of existence. There is a renunciation aspect to this path, and he redefines that as renouncing your old perceptions, rather than renouncing your possessions. These days, let's face it, it would be a little hard for most people to get to work with no car and no clothes!Possessions, he points out, are only an outward expression of what occurs within. Even the ancient tradition of wandering as a monk with a begging bowl is, after all, an outward expression of what has transformed within. When you renounce the belief that the outer world has power over you, then you begin to create your life from your inner joy.

States of being along this path include the realization that your life has a purpose, that you are a unique individual and that you are guided and cared for by your inner self, by your connection with all that is.

These inner realizations dawn and develop when you practice regular, daily meditation. The practice of meditation, as Raja Yoga points out, is the fast track to spiritual awareness.

In today's culture, the word ego is usually applied to dysfunctional personality traits. If a person is controlling, obnoxious or throws a temper tantrum, their ego is said to be to blame.

Dysfunctional attributes of the ego all spring from the Old Reality of separation consciousness. Humankind has spent thousands of years exploring the effects of separation from other people, separation from other states of consciousness, and separation from the spiritual source within.

Separation consciousness causes deep-seated fears; fears that there will not be enough love, land, or resources. From these fears spring jealousy, greed and aggression. It is little wonder that, after thousands of years of nightmarish consequences, humankind is ready to move on to the healing phase of existence upon Earth.

The emerging New Reality brings heart-centered consciousness. The keyword of the new consciousness is integration, not separation. Over the coming decades and centuries, humankind will find ways to resolve differences and issues of separation in ways that are inspired by unconditional love and compassion. Violence may beget violence, but it is based upon the illusion of lack. Love begets love and, being based upon a very real component of Creation, it has the real power.

In the Old Reality, priests would work on being in control of their congregations by berating them with accusations that they are worthless sinners. These days, some teachers who claim to be spiritual berate their audiences with accusations that they have bad ego problems. In fact, they claim, having any ego at all is bad, bad, bad. People in the audience, even gentle souls with wonderful hearts, are then supposed to begin to doubt themselves. After all, they suppose, the allegedly enlightened teacher must know better than they. And, so, the worm of control begins to work its way into their minds.

The New Reality is not about power over anyone. It is about self-empowerment, about power with everyone. The ego of a spiritual person is not a problem. It is an essential part of the human system, created expressly by the Creator of all life in order for it to experience self-consciousness from an infinite number of viewpoints.

Infinite Being is the all-encompassing consciousness from which the universe was created. Everything in the universe is made of consciousness. Just as each snowflake is unique, so is each person. Your primary purpose in life is to experience life from one individual, unique point of view.

You cannot cut off a part of yourself. The ego cannot be cast away and forgotten. It is your essential sense of identity. Even if someone were successful in casting away a part of themself, there would come a time when they would have to retrieve that lost part and integrate it back into themselves in a healthy, holistic manner.

You are an expression of Infinite Being as it experiences itself from all possible viewpoints. The best way you can serve yourself and Infinite Being, the source within us all, is to live your life to your own, personal, highest potential.

And celebrate who you are, because there is no one exactly like you in the entire universe.